While we're waiting for the meeting to start, Mike the Avanti bike guy and Dave, who rode ROOTB earlier this year, ask me how my training is going. I stammer that I'm doing a few RPM classes, playing a couple of games of basketball a week but I've been waiting for something official. They smile politely and nod. Then they roll their eyes at each other. One of them says 'You'll have to get plenty of miles under your belt'. I don't even know what that means - how many miles is plenty of miles? Do we wear belts when we ride? Then I think I might've blurted something dumb in reply, like 'I have really strong legs' and quickly move off to the drinks table.
Once the meeting starts I teeter dangerously between emotions.
Fear looms large. What have I got myself into? There doesn't seem to be any official training program for us to follow and the large majority of us doing the ride are complete novices. Dave recounts exploits from the first trip. It's great fun he says. Then he tells us a horror story about being so cold that the group almost got hypothermia while riding their bikes. Small particles of ice cut into their bare legs. Dave's eye balls froze open and he couldn't blink. The support crew were out of cell phone range. Then it started to rain. Finally, they stumbled across a cafe in the middle of nowhere. Huzzah! Only the proprietor wouldn't let them in because it was still 10 minutes until opening and leave them to their doom. Luckily, the couple who ran the bees wax shop across the road come to the rescue.
I seriously think about going to the bathroom and not coming back. Clearly I'm not the only one daunted by the task.
A tight lipped Renee and Michelle listen to the near death experiences we might encounter.
But as much as I'm completely freaked out about biting off more than I can chew, I can't helped but be moved and inspired about why we're here. That we're on the cusp of doing something really important.
I am touched by the stories. You would have to be a stone not to be. Aidee, ROOTB organiser extraordinaire, talks about being a blase teenager were youth suicide was so common place, kids wouldn't bat an eye when fellow school students gassed themselves over the weekend. It's the parents she feels sorry for. Living with loss everyday. Dave recounts the story of a Westport woman who joined the ride for a day who had lost her husband and both sons to suicide.
I well up and spend a long time examining my piece of pizza.
Anne, from the Mental Health Foundation, informs us that they need to raise an additional $600,000 a year to bolster the funding they receive. Boris, also from the MHF, talks about flipping the paradigm and giving people reasons to live. That we can make a difference. Anna, who is doing a documentary, as well as organising a Buddhist exhibition to accompany the ride, shares her thoughts about the importance of dialogue. Of opening up and sharing our pains and our joy.
I walk away from the meeting more daunted, more inspired and more excited than before.
The next morning I take my bike straight to the fix it shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment